Cruise Excursions – To buy or not to buy that is the question

Cruising is one of the best ways to  travel, in my opinion, giving you the chance to see a lot of places in a short space of time. When I first started cruising back in 1998 I used to book all the excursions in the ports of call as it was great to have someone explain things to you in the various places and explain the history of what you were seeing in the country/city you were at. There is always the added bonus with this knowing you would get back to the ship in time.  As time has gone on I tend not to go on excursions especially if I am visiting places I have been before as I am quite happy just to explore these myself or use the hop on hop off buses. These are always good if you want to go at your own pace and then you can stay as long as you want in any of the drop off areas.

Next month though I am going on a Baltic Cruise on Ncl Getaway from Copenhagen and one of the ports of call is St Petersburg. As this is an itinerary I haven’t done before, and the issue of having to get a visa, I thought it best to book an excursion. Having looked on the Ncl personalisor I was astounded to find that a full day tour was going to cost over £200.00 each for my husband and myself. This then made me look at the cost with Cruising Excursions, another company we use here at Cruise.Co.uk , when recommending excursions to clients. A very similar excursion was available with them for £78.00 per person, including the visa, which I thought was great value. The only thing that is  not included is the entrance fee’s to some of the churches but this is only around $10.00pp This is what we will be getting for our money for an 8 hour Tour, do you agree this is good value?

The tour is a general sightseeing tour of St Petersburg, some museums are closed on certain days of the week so the tour itinerary will change depending on what day of the week it is.

Visitors will also be given leisure time to enjoy local shopping before returning back to the cruise ship well in advance.

SOME OF THE PLACES WE VIEW:

• Nevsky Prospect, St Petersburg most famous lined street, lined with magnificent buildings
• Palace Square
• Statue of Peter the Great
• Peter and Paul’s Fortress (visit inside) with the impressive baroque exterior of Peter and Paul Cathedral (exterior of Peter & Paul Cathedral only)
• Church on Spilled Blood (entrance fee not included)
• St Isaac’s Cathedral (entrance fee not included)
• Mysterious Michael’s Castle (entrance fee not included)
• Field of Mars

WHAT YOU VISIT:

The Hermitage – The Tsar’s former Winter Palace and four other buildings that house one of the world’s premier art collections. Your 1.5 hour guided tour visits the display of rooms, which contain over three million art works, including paintings by Da Vinci, Rafael and Rembrandt. Designed by Rastrelli, the Baroque Winter Palace boasts patterned parquet floors, ornate staircases, moulded and decorated ceilings.

Entrance tickets for Church on Spilled Blood, St Isaac’s Cathedral and Peter & Paul Fortress is extra to the tour (except for Monday) and can be paid locally – $10 (USD) pp.